Friday 22 May 2009

Lies and omissions in Cheney's speech

http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090521/pl_mcclatchy/3237981


Cheney's claims that the torture was legal and stopped attacks, and that Obama was wrong to release the torture memos, and that there was no link between Guantanamo and Abu Ghuraib, and that the Guantanamo detainees were the worst of the worst, and that Saddam had links to the terrorists...were refuted by the FBI, the CIA, the Director of National Intelligence, the Senate Armed Services Committee, the media, everybody.

He claimed that the Bush gang moved decisively against al-Qa'ida and the Taleban, ignoring the fact that the leaders of both groups are thriving because the Bush administration was too obsessive about Iraq. He stressed the importance of getting good intelligence while omitting the fact the Bush gang regularly ignored or fudged the intelligence they did get. He implied that Obama was at fault for blocking the release of key documents...It was actually an executive order by Bush. He slammed Obama for the effort to ship detainees to other countries...a process begun by Bush and Cheney.


A master class in lies and logical fallacies.


**UPDATE* -- also debunking Cheney's claims is...Bush's Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/22/tom-ridge-cheney-is-wrong_n_206782.html

**UPDATE** -- Also smacking down Cheney: John McCain.

http://jeffreygoldberg.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/05/mccain_cheney_endorses_spanish.php

Three other points:

Bush also disagrees with Cheney -- he promised to close Guantanamo.

Also, Robert Gates backs Obama and refutes Cheney, his former boss, on Guantanamo.

Also, I checked the straight-up news reporting in the mainstream media -- ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, the Times and the Post -- looking for any reporter willing to step forward and point out the obvious lies in Cheney's speech. No such luck. So much for the alleged liberal bias of the media.

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